Talking-machine diaphragm.



W. W. YOUNG. TALKING MAGHINE DIAPHRAGM.

APPLIOATION FILED .TAN.5, 1910.

973,735, Patented Oct 25, 1910.

F1115- 7 FIB4 vwcmfoz Witnesses I I a; I I m. J; @QwiOW/U WILLIAM W.YOUNG, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

TALKING-MACHINE DIAPHRAGM.

Original application filed December 12, 1908, Serial No. 467,225.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1910.

Divided and this application filed January 5, 1910. Serial No. 536,473.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM IV. YOUNG, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Talking-Machine Diaphragm,of which the following is a specification, the same being a dlvisionalpart of my application filed in the Unlted States Patent Office December12, 1908, and serially numbered 467,225.

My invention relates to improvements in reproducing diaphragms fortalking-machines, and consists of thin, imporous, sheet material havingperforations therein, which material may have burs or bosses thereon anda filling and coating in the perforations and on one or both sides, saidfilling and coating having been hardened by compression and heat. Or,differently stated, it may be said that the new diaphragm consists ofthin, perforated material either with or without burs thereon and ifwithburs then either with or without them in a flattened condition, andeither with or without the filling and coating hardened by compressionand heat, the diaphragm in the first case being of one material orhomogeneous and in the second case of different materials orheterogeneous.

lVith the mica and the ordinary sheetmetal, reproducing diaphragmscommonly used in talking machines, it has not been possible to obtainthe best results from such machines, because neither of these diaphragmsis capable of producing such results; moreover, the mica diaphragms ordisks, which greatly exceed in number the ordinary sheet-metaldiaphragms or disks, are very fragile and also expensive since there isa great waste incident to procuring disks of the proper size andcharacter; the mica disks, too, deteriorate with use.

The primary object of my invention, therefore, is to provide asubstitute for mica, ordinary sheet-metal, and other kinds of diaphragmsheretofore employed, which substitute is durable and does notdeteriorate, is resilient and resonant, is impervious to moisture andunaffected by climatic changes especially When coated, and is capable ofgiving out clear, loud, and distinct tones of great depth and volume, ofevenly distributing the sound waves and making a quick, complete, andperfect recovery, and of lessening to a great extent all alien anddiscordant noises such as blasts and scratching sounds which are soprevalent with the ordinary diaphragm.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application andin which like characters of reference indicate like parts through theseveral viewsFigure l is a side View of a sheet metal disk perforatedand represents the unfilled diaphragm; Fig. 2, a view of a diaphragm asit appears when the burs left by the perfo-: rating punch have beenupset or pressed into small bosses and when seen from the side uponwhich such bosses are located, the appearance being practically the samewhether said diaphragm be filled and coated or not provided that, in theformer instance, the coating be transparent; Fig. 3, an enlargedfragment in section of the disk or diaphragm shown in the first view,and, Fig. 4, an enlarged fragment in section of a diaphragm which hasbeen filled and coated and pressed.

Various kinds of metals and their alloys which have been rolled orotherwise made thin can be utilized in the manufacture of my improveddiaphragms, among which mention may be made of aluminum and copper, theformer being an exceedingly good metal for the purpose. In addition tosheet-metals other materials which are suificiently hard and dense andpossess the other necessary qualities to a greater or less degree may beused, the materials bein imporous when they are to be filled and coated.

In its simplest form the diaphragm consists of a disk 1, of aluminum forexample, in which there are a number of small holes 2 therein. The holes2 are more or less numerous, they extend through the disk 1 from side toside, and they are preferably punched rather than out so as to leaveprojections or burs on one side of said disk, as shown at 3, in Fig. 3.The object of perforating the disk, and more especially of per foratingit in the manner just stated, is for the purpose of breaking up thestructure of the same and of obtaining the small bosses which are formedby flattening the aforesaid burs, as will presently be made clear, suchchanges in the character of the original disk being productive ofbeneficial results. A further object of the perforations may be toafford means for producing a structure of different materials or astructure that consists of unlike parts in texture, as is done when theperforations are subsequently filled. This last phase of the inventionwill be dealt with at length in the course of this description.

In some cases the burs 3 may be left intact, but usually they will beupset to form small, fiat bosses 4, Figs. 2 and at, on one side of thedisk 1 at the corresponding ends of the holes 2. In reality, the bosses4: are necessarily somewhat irregular in shape, and the openings intheir centers are often so exceedingly minute as scarcely to bediscernible, but of course the metal, which has been perforated bypunching, when subjected to pressure in the upsetting process does notreturn to its former place or condition.

In the drawings the holes 2, burs 3, and

bosses 4 are on an exaggerated scale. The disk 1 is pressed betweensteel plates or their equivalent to flatten the burs 3 into the bosses4:.

A more complex and perhaps in some re-v spects better diaphragm thanthat previously described is made by filling and coating the perforateddisk 1 with one or more suitable chemical substances or materials whichare suitable for the purpose and give the desired results, such assoluble minerals like plasterof-paris, oxid of zinc, silicate of soda,etc. The filling and coating materials mentioned, while practical, arenot the only ones that may be used successfully, and I do not,therefore, intend to be limited to them. The disk 1, with the holes 2'punched therein, is treated with a suitable filling and coatingcompound, solution, miXture, or emulsion, such consisting of silicate ofsoda or silicate of potash and oxid of zinc, for example, which isintroduced into said holes and spread on one or both sides of said disk,generally on both sides. The coating is usually applied several times,and the combined filling and coating is set or fixed and rendered hardand otherwise fit to serve its purpose by subjecting the disk treatedwith it to pressure and heat. The burs 3 are transformed into the bosses.t by the pressure to which the disk is subjected. The diaphragm 5, Fig.4,

embodies the features just described, the

filling being represented at 6 and the coats on the two sides of thedisk at 7. When the burs 3 are flattened the substance of the disk 1 isforced partly into the adjacent ends of the holes or perforations 2 andinto the fill-' ing when present, but enough remains outside to form thebosses 4. Wire-mesh, -cloth, or gauze may be utilized for the disks, butin that case there will be no burs or bosses.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by'Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a diaphragm, for talking-machines,consisting of a perforated disk having burs formed thereon, each bursurrounding the perforations at one end.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a diaphragm, for talking-machines,consisting of a perforated disk having flattened burs thereon which formbosses, each of the latter surrounding its perforation at one end.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a diaphragm, for talking-machines,consisting of a disk having perforations therein and bosses thereonwhich latter surround said perforations and partially fill the same.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a diaphragm, for talking-machines,consisting of a disk having perforations therein which are filled withthe material originally forced out to form such perforations, and withhardened filling material.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a diaphragm, for-talking-machines,consisting of a perforated metallic disk having bosses thereonsurrounding the perforations therein at one end of each, hardenedfilling material in the perforations in said disk, and hardened coatingmaterial on the outside of said disk.

WILLIAM W. YOUNG. Witnesses:

F. A. CUTTER,

A. O. FAIRBANKS.

